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National Biathlon Championships

Sharks Gala at West View

Preston Sharks enjoyed competing in their own pool at West View Leisure Centre as they won their second gala of the season.

They finished comfortably ahead of Blackburn, Newton Hall and Carnforth.

Team manager Stuart Cutler said: “I was very pleased with the team’s performance. We had some regulars missing for this meet, but some of the younger ones had to swim up an age group and did fantastically well indeed. Now we need to ensure we qualify for the Grand Final in September, so there is some hard work to do in the remaining two fixtures.”

Although there were no new club records set by the girls, there were plenty of notable performances. The 12 and under 4x25m medley relay team made up of, Florie McLeish, Charlotte Sinclair, Georgia Barton and Katie Mawdsley, started the evening off with a second place, and all four went on to record personal later on.

Eleanor Laurence set two new fastest times – first when winning the 10 years 50m breaststroke and then in the 10 years 4x25m medley relay alongside Molly McManamon, Kathryn Greenslade and Abbey Kitcher.

Kitcher set a new PB in the 11 and under 4x25m freestyle relay, swimming with Mawdsley, Abbey Huartson, and Laura Joyce, and then another in the cannon.

Huartson swam two PBs – when winning the 11 and under 50m breaststroke and in the winning 4x25m medley relay team along with Joyce, Mawdsley and Laurence.

Joyce recorded a new best when second in the 11 and under 50m backstroke, while Ella Brown broke new ground in the nine years 4x25m medley relay, swimming with Francesca Wright, Greenslade and Sheena Patel.

There were also individual victories for Kitcher, McManamon and Greenslade all winning their individual events. For the boys, Matthew Clarkson set a new club record as he took victory in the 12 and under 50m backstroke. Clarkson also set a new personal best when winning the 12 and under 4x25m medley relay alongside Matthew Greenslade, Jack Smith and Sam McIlwaine, with the latter two setting PBs as well.

Greenslade swam another best time in the 12 and under freestyle relay when Joe Brass replaced McIlwaine. McIlwaine swam personal bests in two other relays – in the 11 and under 4x25m freestyle relay along with Brass, Robert Lavelle and Claude Kirton, who all also swam PBs, and the second in the cannon.

Brass also managed another best when third in the 11 and under 50m backstroke. The nine years freestyle relay team of Andrew Davison, Patrick Hill, Lee Reeder and Alex Joyce won the 4x25m freestyle relay and set a new club record.

Harry Murphy, Joshua Watson and Matthew Rosebottom all also recorded new personal fastest times. There were also individual wins for Reeder in the nine years 25m freestyle, Murphy in the 10 years 12 and under backstroke, and Smith in the 12 and under 50m breaststroke.

Final result:

NATIONAL BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS

SUCCESS FOR PRESTON AT THE 2007 NATIONAL BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS

Preston Swimming Club’s Biathlete’s enjoyed success at the recent National Biathlon Championships which were held at Norwich University. 12 members qualified for the Nationals via the North West Regional Qualifiers and made the long 5 hour trek to the picturesque city of Norwich.

Although the qualifying heat was run on grass the finals were held on the track with the swim changing from a 25m pool to a 50m pool.

The Club returned home with 1 individual medal, 1 team medal and 3 top 10 individual places as well as improved performances from everyone.

The top individual performance came from Florie McLeish (11) who faced with 58 competitors finished in an excellent 3rd place in the 11/12 years age group. McLeish produced excellent PB’s in both the 1,000m run followed by the 100m swim.

The team medal came in the girls 13/14 year old age group where Ellen Buckley (14), Frances Haggerty (13) and Eilidh McLeish (13) all excelled. The girls finished in 3rd place in a very exciting contest when they finished on 6876 points, exactly the same as the 2nd place team. In this highly unusual situation it was Portsmouth Northsea SC who were awarded 2nd place as they had slightly faster run times. Buckley also finished in 8th place in the individual championship whilst Haggerty and McLeish finished in 11th and 22nd places respectively.

The other top 10 places went to Jack Smith (11) who finished in a highly credible 9th place in the boys 11/12 year old age group, and Jonathan Haggerty (15) who took 8th place in the boys 15/16 year old age group.

In the boys 13/14 age group Mitiku Turnbull (13) and Joshua Watson (13) finished in 20th and 24th place.

Lisa Gorton (15) finished in 22nd place in the 15/16 year old girls championship whilst in the same age group for the boys Dean Heaps (15) finished in 29th place.

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